Lawyers across the country have been talking about New York’s new mandate requiring those seeking to join the bar to complete 50 hours of pro bono work.

New York will be the first state to institute such a requirement, which will take effect starting next year. New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced the requirement May 1.

Since then, lawyers have been discussing the pros and cons of the rule. Some say it won’t do anything to help needy clients and unnecessarily burden incoming lawyers. Others contend it will turn new lawyers on to pro bono service.

Bloomberg BNA asked lawyers around the country what they think.

Ben Trachtenberg, professor at the University of Missouri School of Law: “While I completely appreciate the motive behind Chief Judge Lippman’s plan, and there’s a tremendous access to justice problem, I don’t think this is a particularly effective or fair way to solve the problem.”

Michael Millemann, professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law: Chief Judge Lippman’s decision to require 50 hours of pro bono service for admission to the bar is a good step in the right direction.”

Robert N. Weiner, partner, Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C.: “The issue is whether there will be enough resources to ensure that the people doing the pro bono are getting supervised, and getting to represent the right clients, and actually serving their clients The existing infrastructure will need to be supplemented dramatically to have the capacity to accommodate all this pro bono service.”

Questions remain about the implementation and organization of the requirement (some lawyers even want to extend the rule to existing lawyers) and the New York State Bar Association has created a task force to address the issue. What impact New York’s move will have on other states also remains to be seen.

Do you think Maryland should make pro bono work a prerequisite for admission to the bar?

The George Washington University Law School is the latest to drop its enrollment as fewer people applied to law school for the upcoming academic year.

GW Law plans to keep its enrollment below 450, compared to this year’s class of 474, the National Law Journal reports.

Law schools across the country are grappling with upcoming fall enrollment in the face of the declining number of people taking the LSAT and even fewer applying to law school.

The University of California Hastings College of the Law announced this year that it also plans to decrease enrollment. Albany Law School, Creighton University School of Law and Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center also reduced class sizes during the 2011-2012 school year.

GW Law saw its number of applicants fall 15 percent, Law Dean Paul Schiff Berman told the Journal. It will lose some tuition revenue but plans to recoup it in increased fundraising and introducing new programs for students outside the law school, Berman said.

Baltimore schools are experiencing the similar problems. The University of Baltimore School of Law told The Daily Record  in March that its applicant numbers were down 17 percent this admissions cycle, but University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law officials were less concerned.

April showers are about to bring May flowers, but a Monday always brings you the blog roundup. Here are some tidbits as you prepare to celebrate Law Day:

-A Georgia lawyer traded pills for a peep show with female prison inmates.

-American Lawyer released its list of highest-grossing firms.

-A Washington, D.C., lawyer reached his goal of swimming in 50 states before he turned 50.

-A Duke University School of Law student tried to get an answer to a question on his Constitutional Law exam by posting it on the Internet.

If you have a great, big pile of law school debt, Sen. Dick Durbin wants to hear from you.

The Illinois Democrat is collecting stories from real students in his push to pass legislation, called the Know Before You Owe Act of 2012, that will protect students from being tricked into taking high-interest loans from private lenders. Durbin’s bill would require students to receive counseling from schools on signing up for loans and their federal loan eligibility.

But The National Law Journal reports that Durbin has not heard from many law students telling their tales of woe.

According to the American Bar Association, last year law school graduates had between $66,000 and $100,000 in student loan debt. So where are all these law students deep in debt and why so silent?

Other law school students, however, were not so silent in Florida last month. There, two of them helped apprehend an escaped criminal at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

The students were leaving the campus rec center when they spotted a man hiding his hands (and handcuffs) under his shirt. The two called university police. The man, who faced domestic battery and grand theft auto charges, had escaped Gainesville police while switching police cars earlier in the day. Police had been hunting for the man for most of the day and sent out an alert to the university.

The two students received $250 each as a reward. Maybe they can put it toward their loan debt.

Though Yale, Stanford and Harvard law schools may be top of the class this year according to U.S. News & World Report rankings, the University of Baltimore School of Law may have won the popularity contest.

The University of Baltimore School of Law had one of the highest increases in enrollment in 2011, U.S. News & World Report announced Tuesday.

Enrollment at law schools dropped 2 percent nationally last year compared to the previous admissions cycle. UB Law, however, saw a 3.7 percent increase in enrollment from the previous year. Of the students it accepted, 38.5 percent enrolled, giving it the tenth-highest increase in year-to-year enrollment in 2011.

UB Law placed 113th in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings released earlier this month.

The University of Virginia School of Law had the highest increased enrollment with 51.9 percent of its accepted students enrolling, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. Georgia State University College of Law came in second with a 52.7 percent enrollment rate, a 9.1 percent increase from the year before. The University of North Carolina School of Law took third place with a 53.7 percent enrollment rate, a 7.2 percent increase from the previous year.

Law schools sent out a total 175,085 acceptance letters in 2011 but only enrolled 44,366 students.

Some Ivy Leaguers may have their crimson shorts in a twist after U.S. News & World Report’s release of its 2013 Best Law Schools rankings.

Yale Law School once again tops the list, but Stanford Law School moves into the No. 2 spot, over East coast incumbent, Harvard Law School. The Cardinal have topped the Crimson.

Harvard has held its second place position since 2007, though it tied with Stanford in 2009.

Columbia Law School in New York followed by University of Chicago Law School round out the top five on the list.

The University of Maryland School of Law climbed up the rankings, coming in at No. 39, a jump from its No. 42 position last year. The year before, it rose from No. 48 to No. 42.

Maryland is tied, however, tied at the No. 39 spot with three others—Brigham Young University Law School, George Mason University School of Law and Ohio State University College of Law.

For specialties, Maryland ranked No. 3 for healthcare law and No. 5 in clinical training.

The University of Baltimore School of Law ranked No. 113. It was tied with Quinnipiac University School of Law in Connecticut, Gonzaga University School of Law in Washington, Florida International University College of Law, Albany Law School and CUNY School of Law in New York.

The University of Baltimore School of law has narrowed its search for its next dean down to 12 candidates, according to the chairwoman of the search committee.

Michele E. Gilman, a professor and director of the civil advocacy clinic, told students in an email Tuesday that the committee will be interviewing all 12 candidates during the first week of March.

“The names of these candidates are confidential, but we are pleased to let you know that the group is diverse in terms of race, gender, experience, and geography,” Gilman wrote.

Interim Dean F. Michael Higginbotham, pictured, has said he would not be among the candidates.

The committee then hopes to bring three finalists back to campus at the end of March for further interviews and give students a chance to meet the candidates.

The search committee consists of eight faculty members, two alumni, two students and one staff member.

The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law needs attorney judges as it will once again host the Eastern Regional Mock Trial tournament.

Next weekend’s tournament is for undergraduate trial teams (meaning witnesses can score points) and has two rounds of competition each day. Judges’ meetings will begin at 9 a.m. for morning rounds and 1:30 p.m. for the afternoon rounds, with the trials beginning a half-hour after the meeting and lasting up to two-and-a-half hours.

“Judging undergraduate mock trial is a blast,” said Mark A. Graber, an associate dean and director of the mock trial in a statement. “You will see several of the top teams in the nation – including Johns Hopkins, American, Howard, Georgetown, and George Washington. You get to be the judge. And you really help our students.”

Judging is on a pro bono basis, but food and coffee is provided.

Interested lawyers can email Graber for more information.

Does Stephen Glass deserve a chance at redemption?

The former journalist sent shock waves through the  journalism world in the ’90s when it was discovered that he fabricated many of his stories (you can read all about it here). But it’s been more than a decade and Glass has been trying for much of that time to gain admittance to the bar.

He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University’s law school in 2000. When he passed the New York Bar Exam that year, he applied for admittance  in 2002. He later withdrew his application after the good people of New York told him he would likely not gain admittance because of moral character issues.

The setting has now shifted to California, where Glass applied for admittance to the bar in 2007 but was denied. The state Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear the case. A couple judges along the way agreed that Glass should be admitted to the bar, but the committee of bar examiners has appealed the decisions.

So, what say you? Has Stephen Glass rehabilitated himself enough to deserve a chance to practice law? Or do you think he won’t ever be reformed?

Mock trial has long been a staple of many Maryland high schools; I’m sure some of you reading this are now recalling the “cases” you argued lo these many years ago.

But this weekend, high school students from across the state are going from trial court to appellate court during the inaugural Maryland Invitational Moot Court Tournament on Saturday at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Teams of students from seven schools are competing: Bishop Walsh (Cumberland), Friends, Owings Mills, Park, Potomac, Severn and Walter Johnson (Bethesda). They will argue before a number of state circuit and appellate court judges; retired Court of Appeals Judge Alan Wilner and Court of Special Appeals Judge Shirley Watts are scheduled to preside over the final.

“Mock trial offers a greater opportunity for those whose strengths lie in the presentation of material,” said Chris Lambert, the mock trial coach at Owings Mills and an event organizer. “In moot court, you might stress analytical qualities more.”

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